LAS VEGAS - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Pacific Division, Short Line
Express Gambler Shootout at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round,
position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:
Left Lane: Jirka Kaplan Runs 5.711/250.27, Now #10; Best prior run: 12.993/90.09, Was #12
Right Lane: Doug Gordon Runs 5.692/255.15, Now #9; Best prior run: 6.784/151.12, Was #11

5.74s, a pair, a nice side-by-side show, but neither driver made the field. Left Lane: Clint Thompson Runs 5.653/255.68, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.683/254.76, Was #8

Shane Westerfield pulled out of line when he knew he was not going to be bumped from his seventh-spot position on the
ladder. Thompson, eighth, needed to improve a hundredth to get away from a first-round matchup with the #1 qualifier.

Nice
run, he not only got off the bottom of the ladder, he got into the top half of the field. Left Lane: Kris Hool Runs 7.733/135.43, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.670/257.28, Was #6
Right Lane: John Lombardo Jr. Runs 5.604/257.38, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.672/255.48, Was #7

Hool's car started to move around a lot and he clicked it off around half track. Lonmbardo made his best run of the
weekend and moved all the way up to second place, shuffling the ladder once again. Left Lane: Annie Whiteley Runs 9.796/87.24, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.662/255.63, Was #6
Right Lane: Jay Payne Runs 5.664/258.27, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.619/258.52, Was #3

Whiteley rattled the tires and started dancing around, so she lifted. Payne made a good run, but failed to
improve. Left Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 5.631/258.96, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.637/257.53, Was #4

Gasparrelli was already in the top half of the field. He made a good-looking run, improved a few thousandths, stayed
fourth.